This invention relates to an improved apparatus and method for shredding and dispersing baled vegetation, including hay, straw or any other material suitable for mulching purposes. More specifically, the invention relates to the rapid introduction of multiple bales of hay into a mulching and dispersal apparatus. This rapid introduction of hay into the shredding and dispersal apparatus allows for quicker and more economical completion of construction, landscaping, erosion control, highway, and similar projects.
The use of vegetation mulching and dispersal methods and equipment is widely used in many fields of endeavor. For example, as new highways are built or existing highways rebuilt or refurbished, there is a need to rapidly reseed and cover with mulch the ground along and contiguous to the highways. This task must be completed as quickly as possible for two primary reasons: 1) to keep the costs as low as possible and 2) to minimize the amount of ground erosion.
Similarly, large building construction projects often involve large excavation and grading components. Rapid seeding and mulch overlays are imperative in order to prevent erosion and present a “finished” appearance. Once again, swiftness of the reseeding and mulch overlaying procedure is imperative in order to minimize costs and prevent soil erosion.
Generally, these seeding and mulch overlaying projects involve the introduction of hay in either rectangular or cylindrical bales into an apparatus that shreds the bales of hay into mulchable material, and then spreads it through some blower apparatus over newly laid seed. Many of these projects require seeding and mulch overlaying of hundreds of acres. Clearly, time is of the essence in completing these projects.
As of now most entities use the industry standard, labor intensive, rectangular bale of approximately 18 inches wide by approximately 14 inches high by approximately 3 feet long. However, large cylindrical and rectangular bales are gaining popularity due to the practicality of using machinery to move them. This not only eliminates the manual labor but also allows a larger volume of hay or straw to be moved in less time. The most popular cylindrical bale is approximately 5 feet in diameter by approximately 6 feet in length. There are two popular sizes of large rectangular bales. The first is approximately 32 inches by approximately 32 inches by approximately 8 feet and the second is approximately 48 inches by approximately 48 inches by approximately 8 feet. The use of large rectangular bales is more practical due to their ease in handling, optimized storage and transportation characteristics, and their gaining availability. The present invention is designed to capitalize on the advantages of large rectangular bales and yet be able to use any size or shape of bale if it is necessary.
Whatever size or shape of bales used, the key is to introduce as much hay or other vegetation into the shredding and blower apparatus as quickly as possible. A key constraint in designing optimum mulching machines is the fact that most of these machines must be continually transported on or even perform the majority of their work on roads and highways. They therefore must conform to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations with respect to size. Among the most restrictive constraints is the requirement that the maximum width of any vehicle driven or transported over roads and highways be no more than 102 inches (eight and a half feet) without obtaining a special permit. Given the amount of time that these machines are on the roads and highways and the complexity of the permitting process, it is rarely economical and efficient to produce machines that are greater than 102 inches in width.
Machines that shred, and disperse bales of various types of vegetation are common in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,572,039; 5,622,323; 5,240,188; 5,556,041; 2,789,399; 5,209,413; 2,842,897; 2,949,871; 2,952,493 well define the prior art over the last forty years. Earlier machines were designed to use the common size of the above mentioned small rectangular bales (18 inches wide by 14 inches high by 3 feet long). These machines are very manpower intensive. As of late machines have been introduced to the market that are capable of utilizing the larger bales. All of these large bale machines utilize a conveyor system to automatically feed bales into the shredding component. These prior art, large bale machines are a significant step forward but their productivity is limited by the amount of baled material that their conveyor systems can hold. It stands to reason that the more bales that the machines conveyor can hold, the larger the area that can be mulched without stopping to reload.
Labor costs are a major component of the overall cost of seeding and mulching projects. Any machine that can reduce the manpower requirements and/or perform the seeding/mulching processes more quickly and yet stay within the governmental road and highway requirements without requiring special permits represents a significant step forward in reducing overall costs and improving efficiencies for such projects.